


Daydream

by BeepBeepSam



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Brief Mention of Violence, Bruises, Bullying, But tag it just in case, Drug Use, F/M, Homophobia, Jealousy, Kissing, M/M, Marijuana, Pining, Slurs, Underage Drinking, it's just weed, mentioned - Freeform, new kid, small amount of Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-20 22:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21064136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeepBeepSam/pseuds/BeepBeepSam
Summary: Eddie's the new kid and he can't help but be attracted to the one Bill Denbrough. That's basically it,Requested one shot.





	Daydream

Eddie sighs when the building comes into view. He's seen so many schools throughout his life that they all look the same to him now.  
  
"C'mon, Eddie-bear, this is the one, I can feel it. We'll be here until we're old and wrinkly," His mother sighs longingly while Eddie wrinkles his nose at the word "we'll". He also doesn't mention the fact that his mother is already starting to get wrinkly. "I'm gonna go home and start to unpack. You go and make some friends and do your work. I'll see you at home, okay?"  
  
"Okay, Ma," Eddie mumbles, looking out the window as students continuously walk into the building. Eddie is kind of fascinated by the fact that just like how all the schools look the same, all the people tend to blend together too. Eddie knows what to expect in a new school.  
  
“Just one more year,” He thinks to himself and takes in a deep breath. He opens the door, ready to get out there and get the day over with when his mother stops him when she clears her throat. He freezes and turns to look at her as she gives him a knowing smile. He sighs before he leans over the console and presses a kiss to her cheek.  
  
"Love you, baby, have a good day!" She cheers using her high, pitchy voice. A couple of passing students hear and laugh as they walk by, making Eddie roll his eyes as he grabs his bag and gets out to join the sea of teenagers walking towards the front entrance.  
  
A few years ago, he may have gotten nervous about coming to a new school. He remembers the anxiety of not knowing where his classes were or where he was going to sit at lunch. He's done this so many times now, though, that he just feels annoyance as he grudgingly makes his way to the principal's office where they will undoubtedly assign some poor random student the job of taking him to his first class. It goes the same way every year.  
  
He sees the sign that says "Office" and sighs before he makes his way over to it. Students are bustling around him, occasionally knocking into him without even acknowledging him. He can feel himself growing a migraine at their loud voices and the way a locker seems to be slammed closed every five seconds. He grimaces when he realized the door's shut and takes in a breath before hastily reaching out to twist the doorknob and stepping inside. He lets the door slam shut behind him as he reaches behind him to grab the small hand sanitizer bottle he keeps clipped to the strap of his backpack. He doesn't notice how the loud sound makes the only two other people in the room jump.  
  
He gets done squirting a reasonable amount into his hand and rubbing it in when he finally looks up to see the faces staring back at him.  
  
The woman, who is obviously the secretary as she sits behind the desk and seems to be swimming in paperwork, slowly moves her gaze from him to the other boy in the room and sighs.

"Richie...It's the first day. Can we please not do this today?" She asks tiredly and Eddie looks at the apparent troublemaker. His glasses and his teeth are too big for his face and his hair looks like it hasn't been brushed. Ever. Thick, black curls sit like a mop on top of his head. Eddie can feel himself making a weird face at the boy's choice of clothes. Who pairs cargo shorts and Hawaiian shirts? Who even wears Hawaiian shirts in the first place?

The boy, Richie, however, sits in his chair, grinning as he plays with a bracelet on his wrist and continuously taps his foot against the floor.

"You know how much I love to come see ya, Mrs. Cock," He says with a shit-eating grin that makes Eddie's eyes widen, but the woman has apparently heard the joke enough times in her life.

"It's pronounced "Coke", Riche, don't make me tell you again," She glares at him.

"Oh, yea, sorry, I forgot, been so long since I last saw ya," He excuses, and she sighs. Eddie is almost positive he heard her mutter "Not long enough" under her breath. She then turns to him.

"Can I help you?" Eddie peels his eyes off of the other guy and looks at her. He silently hands her the last few papers, finalizing his enrollment and she takes them, looking over them briefly. "Do you know where your classes are?" He shakes his head.

"Richie, I really don't have time to deal with you today and I know Mr. Robinson doesn't either, so I'm gonna let you go on the condition that you walk Edward to his class," She sighs out as Richie jumps from his seat with a whoop.

"It's Eddie," Eddie tries to interject but he's cut off by Mrs. Cok threatening Richie with in-school detention if he's caught with cigarettes on school property again. Richie, however, only responds to Eddie as he slings an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders.

"Don't worry, Eds, Rich is gonna take good care of ya," He winks and drags them out of the room. Eddie pushes his arm off of him once they're in the hallway.

Once the door closes behind them, Eddie speaks. "Don't call me Eds, okay? It's Eddie. And you don't actually have to show me around, just point me in the right direction and I can figure it out myself." He grumbles. Richie's eyebrows shoot up and he raises his hands in a surrendering way.

"No need to get feisty, I don't mind showing ya. Plus, it gives me an excuse to be late to first hour," He grins as the bell above them rings. Eddie watches as the students around them suddenly startling rushing into classes and in just a couple minutes, they're left in an empty hall. Eddie sighs and nods, squirting more hand sanitizer into his hand out of pure habit. Richie eyes him out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn't say anything.

They walk in silence until they pass the girls' restroom where a girl with striking red hair emerges from. She turns to walk away from them when Richie wolf whistles. "Yo, Marsh, is that any way to treat our dear new friend, Edward Spaghedward?" Eddie wrinkles his nose in pure disgust at the nickname but before he can say anything, the girl turns around.

And, okay, look. Eddie's gay. He's known he was gay since he was like 10. But this red-haired girl has got to be one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen. Her hair comes down to her midback in soft waves, and her eyes are strikingly blue. She's wearing some leggings and a simple sweatshirt, but Eddie already feels insufficient compared to her. She grins when she sees Richie and rolls her eyes as she walks over to them. However, once she gets close, it's obvious why she was in the bathroom after the bell rang. She reeks of cigarette smoke. Eddie fights down the urge to gag.

"I thought Cock was going to fucking annihilate you when she caught you this morning, you little shit, I can't believe you lit one up right on the front steps," She laughs and shoves his shoulder. He laughs with her and Eddie is actually genuinely surprised how close they seem. It's not that Richie is nowhere near ugly, but Jesus, if this girl isn't out of everybody in the school's league.

Her gaze finally lands on him and she smiles, but it's shyer than the one she gave Riche. "Sorry, I'm Beverly. Bev for short," She says and reaches out a hand, which...Eddie doesn't want to be rude...but she did just come out of the bathroom...smelling like cigarettes...

However, before Eddie has any more time to panic on what to do, Richie actually steps in. He takes Bev's outreached hand and holds it in his own, dragging her down the hall with them. "Time to go, don't want our dear new friend to be too late on his first day," He cries out in a weird British voice that Bev just laughs at. Eddie speed walks to keep up with them.

"If he's actually trying to make it to class, then why is he following you?" She retorts.

"I'm offended, Miss Marsh, I do know how to get to my classes," Richie jokes.

"You just choose not to go," She finishes for him and he grins.

"You don't even know what class I'm supposed to be going to," Eddie points out and Richie freezes. Bev stops next to him to give him an unimpressed look before she punches his arm. "You didn't even ask him which class?'  
Richie winces as he rubs his arm. "I didn't think about it," He admits. "So, Spaghetti, what's the class?"

Eddie glares at him. "I told you, it's just Eddie," He snaps.

"Okay, Just Eddie, what class?" Richie presses, not losing the grin on his face. Eddie starts to doubt he ever doesn't have the stupid smile.

Eddie digs into his backpack and pulls out his schedule. "English," he says.

"Wait, with who?" Bev comes closer to look over his shoulder.

"Grey," He responds and both Richie and Bev groan. "Is he bad?" Eddie says monotonously.

"Not just bad, Eds, the worst. I don't even think he's human," Richie explains and Eddie just rolls his eyes. He's gone through a lot of bad teachers. One more is not going to kill him.

“Hate to break it to you, but I’ve been to countless schools all over the country. I doubt he can be the worst one out there,” Eddie says confidently, gazing half interestedly at the signs and posters on the walls that past them.

“Woah, you’ve been all over the country?” Bev looks at him with newly sparked interest. Eddie shrugs. Yea, some people might think it’s cool to travel all the time and go everywhere, but Eddie just wants to find a place to stay. After about the fifth move, all the roads and buildings and landmarks started to blend into one. He probably couldn’t even tell you all the places he’s been if you asked.  
  
Bev seems to notice his discomfort in talking about the subject and doesn’t respond.  
  
The three walk in silence down a long stretch of the hallway before Richie stops suddenly, almost making Eddie run into his back. “This is it,” he whispers.  
  
“Why are you whispering?” Eddie whispers back.  
  
“Because Mr. Grey will literally chop my head off if I disrupt his class,” Richie whispers back. “Good luck, Eds,” He says one last time before he and Bev take off down the hallway. Eddie hesitates before rolling his eyes. It’s just a high school teacher.  
  
He opens the door and walks in before he can second guess himself. Everybody’s head snaps towards him and it’s eerily quiet. Eddie scans the room. No faces stick out to him particularly. There’s a boy with soft golden curls sitting by the window, looking out and Eddie decides that’s where he’ll sit too if he gets to choose.  
  
His eyes go to the front where a man stares back at him. He’s not an unattractive man, which is usually one of the main aspects of a mean teacher. Maybe Richie played a trick on him.  
  
“Can we help you?” The man’s voice rings out in the empty classroom. Eddie almost startles because the voice is cold and hostile, almost like Eddie had just ruined the man’s day just by walking in.  
  
“I’m Eddie. I’m new,” he says and walks over to hand the man his papers. Instead of getting a response, the man just stares him down. Eddie slowly lowers his hand down, not really knowing what to do.  
  
“Just take a seat. You’ve already wasted enough time as it is,” The man says and turns around to continue writing on the board which was what he must have been doing when Eddie entered.  
  
Eddie lets out a breath and almost takes off running to the seat next to the boy he saw earlier. He approaches and sees that the boy is already staring at him. Eddie nods at him politely and before setting his bag down and reaching into it to grab his wipes. He quietly wipes down the seat and desk before Mr. Grey turns back around the boy watches him the whole time. Eddie doesn’t care. He’s used to getting weird looks for his cleaning, but he would take judgment over germs any day. Other people usually get used to it by the end of the week anyway. He balls up the wipe and silently creeps behind where the boy sits to throw it away.  
  
He takes a seat and leans back. He’s just pulling out his notebook and pencils when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns his head to see the boy leaning forward, handing him another wipe that must have come from his own bag.  
  
“You missed that corner,” He gestures to the left corner and presses the wipe into Eddie’s hand. Eddie hesitates before taking the wipe and going over the area. When he finishes, he picks it up by the clean corner and the boy puts his hand out. Eddie hands it to him and the boy reaches over to place it in the trash. When he turns back around, he puts his hand out.  
  
“Stan,” He says simply.  
  
“Eddie,” Eddie shakes his hand, before reaching down for his hand sanitizer. Stan doesn’t seem offended.  
  
They sit the rest of the class in silence, neither of them wanting to put any attention on themselves. Mr. Grey seems strict, and Richie was right, he is mean. He sent one kid to the office just for getting up to straighten his pencil.  
  
Eddie lets out a sigh of relief when the bell rings, getting up and gathering his stuff. It’s like the class is suddenly brought to life as students no longer fear to talk to each other.  
  
He glances at Stan, unsure if he should say anything else, but Stan just gives him a nod and walks out of the room.  
  
His next three classes go by more smoothly. He doesn’t talk to anyone in them, but the teachers seem cool.  
  
When the lunch bell rings, Eddie feels like hiding in a hole. He ponders skipping lunch but ultimately decides to go. Even if he doesn’t eat, others might be just as lost as he is on the first day and this way, he’ll know where to go and what to do when he does eat lunch.  
  
He enters the lunchroom, standing in line and grabs a tray when they come into view. He goes through the line, pointing silently to what he wants. He grabs a water before making his way to the actual lunchroom.  
  
He walks in and just as he expected, everybody is already sitting in groups. He sighs and searches for a place to sit by himself, vaguely wondering if they’re allowed to leave and go eat somewhere else. Some schools allow it, and some don’t. Right as he’s about to turn around, he bumps into another person.  
  
“Watch it, pipsqueak,” The boy practically growls and shoves him back. Thankfully, Eddie stays on his feet because he crashes into somebody’s chest and the person behind him reaches out to keep him upright.  
  
“Leave him alone, Bowers,” the boy that caught him says. Eddie glances at “Bowers” who just gives him a dirty look before turning back around to talk the dark-haired boy next to him. Eddie turns around to see who caught him. The boy is insanely attractive, with dark skin and honey gold eyes. He’s obviously a jock because his build is muscular and he’s wearing a varsity jacket with several patches sewn into it. The boy glares at the kid that pushed him before backing down.  
  
“You okay?” He asks kindly. Eddie nods.  
  
“Hey, you’re the new kid, right? Richie was telling us about you,” he chuckles, and Eddie feels his face heat up at the thought of what Richie could have told him.  
  
“You know Richie?” He asks dumbly, mentally slapping himself. Of course he knows Richie; it’s not a big school. Plus, Richie’s kind of an outlandish character. Everyone in the school probably knows who Richie is. “I mean, you’re friends?” He fixes.  
  
The boy smiles and nods. “Do you want to come sit with us? We’re outside,” the boy offers, and Eddie hesitantly nods. This is a first. No one has ever asked him to sit with them on the first day. The second or third is when people actually start to notice him.  
  
“I’m Mike, by the way,” The boy, Mike, says kind of as an afterthought as they walk to the exit. It’s warm outside since it’s still the end of summer, but it feels nice to be outdoors. There are a few students eating and talking and the overall atmosphere is relaxing, not near as intimidating as the lunchroom had been.  
  
Mike points to a table farther than the others where a few students are already seated. When he gets closer, he sees that he knows everyone at the table except one.  
  
Stan sits on the end of one side, with a lunch pail in front of him. His food is organized and set up in such a pristine manner than Eddie almost feels embarrassed about his own lunch before his gaze turns to Richie who sits across from Stan. His lunch, it appears, to have only consisted of Doritos and Twizzlers. Stan takes a sip of his water from a nontransparent reusable water bottle while Richie swishes a Mountain Dew can. The contrast is polar opposite between them but Eddie watches in wonder as they seem to be engaged in deep conversation.  
  
Next to Richie, sits Bev. She’s taken off the sweatshirt and is now only in a simple t-shirt. She has a school lunch in front of her that’s been half-eaten and forgotten. She seems to be listening to what Richie and Stan are saying.  
  
The only one he doesn’t recognize is the brunette boy sitting across from Bev. He’s reading a book and snacking on some grapes that he apparently brought himself. He’s wearing the sweatshirt that Bev had on earlier. When Eddie gets closer, he can see that the two are playing kicksies under the table. They all look up when Eddie and Mike get closer, watching them approach. Stan stops taking a drink from his bottle and sets it down. Ben bookmarks his page.  
  
“Stan, Ben, this is Eddie,” Mike introduces, knowing that both Richie and Bev have already met him.  
  
Stan mutters a simple, “We met in class,” while Ben gives a soft, “Hello, Eddie.”  
  
Richie looks at Stan. “You already met the new kid?” and Stan shrugs. Richie stares at Stan a little longer and Stan glances up to meet his eyes before he looks back down at his lunch. Eddie pretends not to notice.  
  
“Have a seat, Eddie,” Bev says and pats the seat next to her. Mike plops down next to Ben and Eddie follows his lead. He sits in silence as he listens to the others talk and bicker amongst themselves. For once, Eddie is really stupefied. In all the schools he’s been to, he’s never met a group so…diverse. They seem to all be complete opposites of each other, yet they act like they’ve been best friends for years. Eddie realizes that they probably have.  
  
“Hey, where’s Bill?” Mike asks after a few minutes.  
  
“He had a student council meeting,” Stan says, putting away his lunch. He takes a small apple out of the lunch pail and presses it into Richie’s hand insistently. Richie doesn’t even say anything, just reaches up to take a bite out of it.  
  
“On the first day? Tough luck,” Richie says.  
  
“He’s in charge of the welcome back activities,” Ben explains and the whole group quiets. Eddie wonders who Bill is.  
  
“So, Eddie, what do you think of Derry?” Mike asks politely.  
  
“Oh, uh, it’s- “Eddie stutters, not expecting to be talked to.  
  
“A total shithole,” Richie finishes for him and the whole table snickers. “It’s okay, Eds, you can say it. You won’t hurt any of our feelings,” Richie laughs. Stan looks up at Richie almost immediately after the nickname slips out, before looking at Eddie, who feels his face go red. Stan looks back at Richie and Eddie notices the way his jaw tightens up. Richie starts to go off about something else and Eddie pretends to listen as he watches them. He’s not stupid; there was definitely something behind that look.  
  
Bev spends the rest of the lunch period telling him little facts about each of the others, letting him get to know all of them. The rest occasionally stop to listen and to add something or correct her when she gets mixed up.  
  
It’s not long before the warning bell rings, signaling for them to gather their stuff and go back inside.  
  
“See ya tomorrow, Spaghetti!” Richie calls out, cackling when Stan grabs him and pulls him into the building. Eddie raises his eyebrows at Bev and she just smiles and shakes her head.  
  
“If I don’t see you in any other classes, come sit with us tomorrow too, okay?” She asks and Eddie nods. He watches as she catches up to Ben, giggling when they collide, and Ben wraps an arm around her while laughing himself. Mike follows them inside before Eddie moves.  
  
He walks to class in silence, going from class to class that unfortunately, none of the others share with him. He zones in and out of focus, not really listening to the same speech each teacher seems to give as he thinks about the group he just met. He’s never met such a close group of friends and he knows he should feel like he’s intruding, but…he doesn’t. He chalks it up to the friendliness of the group but yet he can’t shake the feeling that he belongs here.  
  
Jesus, what is he thinking? It’s his first day. They were just being friendly. There is no underlying reason.  
  
It’s the last class of the day, Economics, when anything else interesting happens.  
  
He walks in and he can immediately notice the difference in the atmosphere. The students are a lot more talkative and several gather around the teacher’s desk which is a weird sight, especially for the first day.  
  
He takes a seat and waits for the class to start. The bell rings and the students all reluctantly settle into their desks. The whole room is full except for one seat to Eddie’s right.  
  
“Alright, alright, it’s time to start you guys,” The teacher says as she gets up from her desk. She’s wearing bright colors but it’s her smile that lights up the room. Eddie immediately feels at ease.  
  
“My name is Miss Austin and I am so happy to see all of your beautiful faces this year,” She says, and everyone is smiling back.  
  
She starts to take roll, and everyone is actively responding instead of just raising their hands.

“William Denbrough?”  
  
Nobody says anything and everyone glances at the empty seat where the unclaimed name is obviously supposed to sit. Miss Austin just chuckles and turns to the door almost expectantly. As if on cue, a tall brunette boy stumbles through the door.  
  
“Sorry, M-Miss Austin,” He mumbles sheepishly, and Miss Austin gives him a knowing smile. “Bill,” She greets and marks him present.  
  
Eddie stares almost in shock. Not only did this boy walk in late and not get reprimanded, but he’s fucking gorgeous. His hair looks soft as it rests against his forehead in a downward swoop, almost in his eyes but not quite long enough to get in the way. His grin is playful as he walks down the aisle and a couple of the other kids tease him for being late. He’s wearing a varsity jacket like the one Mike was wearing, but he’s leaner.  
  
Eddie stares as the boy comes down the aisle next to him when the boy looks up and meets his eyes. Eddie feels like he can’t breathe as the most shocking blue eyes meet his. He vaguely remembers thinking that Bev was the most beautiful person in the school, but now he thinks he was wrong.  
  
Bill looks at Eddie and his head tilts to the side almost curiously as he makes his way to the seat. Eddie realizes what’s he’s doing and coughs as he turns his eyes away. He can still feel Bill staring at him, but he ignores it, pleading for his cheeks to not heat up. It doesn’t work. He hears Bill set his stuff down and takes a seat himself next to him and Eddie can’t make himself relax.  
  
“Edward Kasprak?” His name is called out.  
  
Eddie raises his hand. It seems the other kids finally realize there’s a new kid and the teacher looks at him and smiles. “Did you just move here?” She asks.  
  
Eddie nods, feeling suddenly self-conscious, as he’s still aware that the most attractive guy he’s ever seen sits next to him.  
  
“Do you want to be called Edward?” She asks kindly.  
  
“Eddie’s fine,” He replies, his voice coming out quiet as he mumbles  
.  
“Nice to meet you, Eddie,” She says and writes something down by his name before moving on to the next kid.  
  
For the rest of the class, Eddie is hyper-aware of Bill sitting next to him. Every small movement and noise have him sneaking side-eyed glimpses before he frantically forces himself to look forward again. It wouldn’t be so bad if every time he looked to his right Bill wasn’t looking at him as well. They caught eyes a few times and each time made Eddie feel like he couldn’t breathe, but he refuses to dig out his inhaler. How embarrassing would that be?  
  
Finally, he decides to put his elbow on his desk and using his hand as a prop to block Bill completely from his view. To the others, it would just simply look like he’s tired and needs to prop his head up, but from the small chuckle he hears from his right, Bill knows exactly what he’s doing.  
  
Eddie waits until the final bell rings for the day before he drops his position. He gets up and gathers his stuff, refusing to look up as Bill does the same. He walks briskly to the door, but his attempt is futile when Bill also tries to exit, and they almost run straight into each other. Eddie looks at Bill to apologize, but Bill just smiles, says a simple “Bye, Eddie”, and takes off down the hallway. Eddie watches as he goes, with only one thought running through his head.  
  
“I’m fucked.”  
~~~  
The next day at school, he starts his day by greeting Stan as he cleans his desk before he sits down. Stan stares at him and gives him a small smile in return. It’s not much but it puts Eddie into a good mood.  
  
Lunch comes and he gets nervous, unsure if he should just walk back to the place where the others sat yesterday. He knows he was invited, but part of him can’t help but think they’re going to play a sick joke on them and leave him sitting by himself.  
  
However, that fear is quickly dissolved when just as he’s grabbed his lunch bag from his locker, Richie comes up behind him in the hallway and slings an arm around his shoulders like they’ve been best buds all their lives. Eddie refuses to admit how comfortable he already feels around the guy. Richie picks up a conversation like it wasn’t the first time they’ve seen each other that day and Eddie finds himself walking and talking with him with just as much enthusiasm. Richie leads him outside and Eddie catches sight of the others almost immediately.  
  
They’re sitting much like they were the day before, but this time there’s another boy. Bill, the extremely cute guy from his 7th hour. He hadn’t even processed that his Bill could also be their Bill. Not that Bill’s his.  
  
He’s too busy staring at Bill as they approach that he doesn’t notice the way Stan is glaring at them as they get closer. Bill looks up and smiles, looking slightly confused since he’s practically plastered to Richie’s side.  
  
“Look at the catch I found,” Richie exclaims to the group. Eddie rolls his eyes, but he watches in surprise when Stan suddenly rises from the table and storms off. The other losers let out low “Ooooh’s”, giggling amongst themselves. Richie seems to suddenly realize his arm is still around Eddie’s shoulders and he pulls it back with a “Shit.” He turns to run after Stan.  
  
Eddie stands there awkwardly, not sure what just happened. Bev snorts and pats the seat next to her much like she did the day before and he squeezes into the small space between her and Mike. They leave the spaces at the end in case Stan and Richie come back. Bill sits where Mike sat yesterday, meaning he’s right across from Eddie. Eddie makes sure to keep his eyes everywhere but Bill’s face.  
  
Almost like she’s reading his mind she suddenly sits up. “Oh! Eddie, this is Bill. Remember when we were talking about him yesterday?” She asks and Eddie looks up to meet Bill’s eyes. Bill gives him a soft smile.  
  
“N-Nice to meet you, E-Eddie,” He says, and Eddie could have sworn he winked.  
  
“Do you stutter all the time?” He asks before thinking and covers his mouth with his hand. He can feel all the others look up at the comment, probably ready to jump in case Eddie makes fun of Bill. Bill averts his eyes and chuckles self-consciously. “Yea,” He says.  
  
“I’m so sorry, I promise- I mean, I didn’t-” He struggles to find the words and Bill’s voice stops him.  
  
“N-Now who’s s-s-stuttering?” He teases and the whole table relaxes when the two start laughing. Bev watches the two of them and smiles.  
  
Like the day before, Eddie sits quietly and listens to the others. After a few minutes, Stan and Richie come back with Stan looking considerably less pissed. He tries to give Stan a smile when he passes and tries not to think too much about it when Stan pretends not to see it.  
  
Richie is grinning and being his usual boisterous self, providing much of the entertainment for the lunch period which passes too quickly in Eddie’s opinion.  
  
The bell rings and they all get up, clearing their things. Eddie walks in between Mike and Bill back into the building. He goes to turn down another hallway, the opposite way that they’re going, when Bill says, “S-S-See ya last hour, E-Eddie.”  
  
Eddies spends the rest of the next hour trying to get his cheeks to cool off.  
~~~  
When Eddie enters his seventh hour, he smiles at the energetic mood in the room. It’s something that really lifts his spirits after a day full of boring classes and snotty teachers.  
  
He nods his greeting at Miss Austin, who beams at him in return.  
  
He sits down at the same desk he sat yesterday, eyeing the empty desk next to him, anxious for Bill to show up. Right as the late bell is ringing, said boy walks in through the door, and Miss Austin just shakes her head at him.  
  
“Are you always late?” Eddie leans over and whispers when Bill sits down.  
  
Bill looks up, surprised that Eddie’s speaking to him. “I h-have a free hour b-b-before this with Richie,” Is all he says as if it’s an explanation, and when Eddie thinks about it, it kind of is.  
  
Eddie just nods and leans back in his seat, responding when his name is called.  
  
The class goes by too quickly. He and Bill don’t say anything else to each other, but there are a couple of awkward glimpses and smiles.  
  
Right before the class end, though, Miss Austin says something that really has Eddie sitting up in his seat.  
  
“Every year, I have a competition to see who the best inventors are. It’s your semester final and it isn’t due until December, but I’m going to go ahead and tell you because it’s going to take some time for you think about and finish. Now, there’s an even number of you in this class so I’m going to have you pair up. You can work here at school during your free time or at home, but there needs to be participation on both sides. You will write a 2-page report about the creative process you went through to decide your invention and create a poster board which will include: A drawing of your invention, details you want your consumers to know about your invention, and a creative name. The other class will vote on who has the best invention and you guys will vote on theirs. When it gets closer to time, I’ll go over the details again, but this is just something for you guys to be thinking about, okay?”  
  
And with that, the bell rings, and everyone files out. Before Eddie can follow them, a hand reaches out and grabs his sleeve.  
  
“H-Hey, Eddie. D-Do you w-want to, um, b-be partners?” Bill asks and Eddie would swear on his life that there’s a small flush across his cheeks. He grins at Bill.  
  
“Sure thing, Bill.”  
  
~~~  
  
His first week goes by smoothly. A lot more smoothly than any of his other first weeks. He eats with others every day and they seem just as happy to have him there as he is to be there. That is, except for Stan.  
  
Ever since Richie had walked out with his arm around Eddie’s shoulders, Stan’s been ignoring him. Like full-on, won’t even acknowledge him when Eddie sits down in front of him. He’s tried talking to him a couple of times, but Stan either keeps his head down, reading or writing what’s in front of him, or he’s looking out the window. Eddie’s not stupid, he can take a hint, but he still can’t help but wonder what he did to make the boy so mad.  
  
He eventually stops trying and when he sits down in first period, he doesn’t look back. At lunch, he sits further down the table and usually just talks to Ben, Mike, and Bill anyway.  
  
He’s saddened by the fact because he really thought out of all of them, he would get on with Stan the best, but that apparently, is not the case.  
  
One day at lunch, Bev announces that she’s having a movie night at her place Friday night to celebrate surviving the first two weeks of school and the others cheer. Eddie smiles but doesn’t say anything, assuming that the invite didn’t extend to him. He hasn’t been over to any of their houses.  
  
They talk and argue about what movies to watch, who’s bringing snacks, who’s bringing drinks. Richie promises to bring some weed.  
  
“We have to stick to classics. We always watch classics!” Bev argues, mostly because she wants to watch Clueless again.  
  
“Exactly, w-we always watch c-c-classics. That’s why w-we need t-t-t watch other genres,” Bill points out, taking a bite out of the pizza slice on his tray. Bev gives her quick her retort.  
  
“All you want to watch are those dumb horror movies,” She huffs.  
  
“They’re n-not dumb. They’re f-fun to watch and they’re not e-even that s-s-scary.”  
  
“Easy for you to say, Big Bill,” Ben pipes up, chuckling nervously.  
  
“Not y-you too, Ben,” Bill groans but he’s smiling. He turns his gaze to Eddie. “Eddie, come on, b-back me up.”  
  
Eddie looks up from his peas in an almost daze, not preparing to be addressed. “They’re okay,” He says slowly.  
  
“You don’t have to agree with him, Eddie. Don’t let his charms trick you,” Bev insists.  
  
“I don’t see why it really matters what I think?” He asks confusedly.  
  
“Aren’t you going to come, Eddie?” Mike asks.  
  
Eddie frowns. “I didn’t think I was invited.”  
  
“Of course, you’re invited! I wouldn’t have mentioned it in front of you if you weren’t,” Bev assures, and Eddie can feel all their eyes on him. Even Stan’s.  
  
“Oh…that’s…thanks,” He smiles, and Bill has to look away because his heart should not speed up at the sight of Eddie smiling like that.  
  
Eddie smiles up until school lets out before it suddenly drops when he realizes he’s going to have to ask his mother.  
  
~~~  
  
Eddie bites his lip at the dinner table. He hasn’t yet asked his mom about going to Bev’s Friday night. Of course, he’s not going to let her know that Bev is a girl. Actually, it’s probably best not to name any names.  
  
You’re 17, stop being such a baby and just ask! He thinks, annoyed with himself.  
  
“Hey, Ma?” He says, looking up from his casserole.  
  
“Yes, Eddie?”  
  
“Is it okay if I go to a friend’s house on Friday?” He asks and his lip starts to bleed from where he’s bitten through the skin.  
  
“A friend’s house?” His mother looks at him, a look of surprise on her face. “Eddie bear, you know how dangerous it is to go over to a stranger’s house. What if they don’t clean after themselves or have a contagious disease that you don’t know about it? It’s too risky,” She says, almost to herself, shaking her head.  
  
“Please, Ma? I don’t ever go anywhere. And I’m making a lot of friends,” He pleads. She stares at him and frowns. There’s a faraway look in her eyes as she mentally debates herself.  
  
“Friends?” She asks, almost like she’s confused by the term.  
  
“Yea, Ma, I’ve made some friends,” He smiles. Friends were always a rare thing for Eddie. It’s especially rare to make 6. Well, 5. He doesn’t think Stan wants to be his friend, but the rest of them are really nice to him.  
  
“Eddie…” She trails off so he looks at her with pleading eyes and she sighs.  
  
“You’ll be home by 9.”  
  
“Aw, ma, come on, it’s not a school night,” He complains, and she almost lets out a chuckle.  
  
“10:30 and no later, young man,” She states, pointing her fork at him.  
  
“Yes, Ma,” Eddie says and takes his plate to the sink, smiling to himself.  
  
~~~  
  
On Friday evening, Eddie follows the directions to Beverly’s house. It’s only about a fifteen-minute walk from his and he finds it easily when they’re a couple of cars parked in front of the house. He swallows, unsure why he suddenly feels a little nervous. He walks up the steps of the porch and rings the doorbell. As he waits, he can hear voices from inside, laughter and the occasional excited shout.  
  
Bev opens the door and her face lights up when she sees Eddie. There’s a drink in her hand that Eddie is pretty sure is not soda. At least not completely.  
  
“Eddie!” She yells out, then giggles to herself. “You came!” She reaches out to take his hand and he doesn’t even have the time to process it before he’s being pulled into the house and guided to the kitchen where the others are gathered. Richie and Stan are on two of the three stools that sit facing the island, and Bev pushed him down onto the third one next to Richie.  
  
Mike and Ben are teaming up to make something on the stove, and Eddie looks in amazement at the arrange of items they already have lined up on the counter. There are a few bags of chips and a container of dip that has already been opened. There are several liters of soda, with some being emptier than others. Ben pulls out a tray of what looks to be garlic bread. Mike stands over a big pot on the stove, stirring and Eddie can already guess what they’ve made. The smell of all the seasoning has his stomach rumbling.  
  
“It’s a good thing you showed up, new kid. The spaghetti was specifically dedicated to you,” Richie teases and Eddie rolls his eyes.  
  
Bill, who stands in front of the three and looks to be in charge of mixing drinks, catches his eyes and laughs. Eddie slides off his stool and walks over to the other side of the counter to watch what he’s doing. “W-What’s your poison?” Bill asks when he gets closer.  
  
“Oh- I, uh, I don’t drink,” Eddie says, feeling his face heat up. He feels kind of lame, but Bill just shrugs.  
  
“Bill, I need a refill,” Bev says and hands her now empty cup over.  
  
“You b-better slow d-down,” He warns but takes her cup anyway. There’s a couple of bottles in front of him, flavored vodka and rum. A bag of opened ice sits in the sink and Bill uses an empty cup to scoop some more into Bev’s cup. The bottle of Sprite is opened and Eddie watches as Bill pours it into the cup until it’s about ¾ of the way full before pouring the green apple in. He doesn’t pour in much, but Eddie knows that that stuff is stronger than it looks.  
  
He hands it back to Bev, and she takes another sip before setting her drink down.  
  
“Guys, it’s done,” Mike says and turns the stove off. Everybody moves from their spot to line up and fill a plate. Eddie stays back, feeling a little out of place. Bill notices him and walks over, handing him a plate.  
  
“Y-You don’t want it t-to get cold, do you?” Bill says and Eddie’s breath hitches when Bill grabs his hand and drags him over to the line. Eddie is almost sure that Bill squeezes his hand before letting it go, but he knows his imagination may be playing tricks on him.  
  
Bill gets done scooping pasta on to his plate and gestures for Eddie to hold up his plate so he can scoop some for him.  
  
They’re the last ones in the kitchen and Eddie glances up to look up at Bill, and they’re eyes meet for a few seconds. Bill looks like he’s just about to say something when Richie calls out, “Guys, you’re going to miss the whole fucking movie if you don’t hurry up!”  
  
They both jump and laugh awkwardly as they make their way to the living.  
  
The whole place is decked out. They’re bean bag chairs on the floor, which have been taken up by Ben, Richie, and Bev. Stan sits on the only recliner, conveniently behind Richie. Ben and Bev have pushed their bean bags right next to each other. Mike sits on one end of the couch, leaving two empty spots for Eddie and Bill.  
  
Bill smiles and lets Eddie choose if he wants to sit in the middle or on the end. Eddie chooses the latter. He’s careful as he eats, being especially careful not to get any food on the couch. He and his mother have always eaten their dinner at a table, but he wasn’t about to suggest that.  
  
Bev was leaning over to put a disk in the DVD player. He couldn’t see the cover, but he knows that they had all, finally, agreed on a starting the night with a classic and ending it with horror, to please both Bev and Bill. Ben wasn’t so happy about the horror choice, but he had Bev to snuggle up to if he really felt the need to.  
  
Eddie hasn’t seen either of the movies, Mama Mia or Insidious, so he was kind of excited. He wasn’t really allowed to watch horror movies and the thought of doing that without his mother’s knowledge sent a small wave of thrill through him.  
  
Mike gets up and asks the room if anyone wants anything while he’s up. Bill and Ben ask for a beer but everyone else is content at the moment.  
  
Eddie finishes his food and is about to get up to go take the plate to the kitchen, but before he can do so, Bill stands up and takes it for him. He gives Bill a grateful smile and can’t help but notice how empty the couch feels until Bill returns.  
  
About halfway through Mama Mia, Richie gets up and Bev follows him. They’re gone for a few minutes before they come back with two perfectly rolled joints. Nobody really says anything when Richie lights one and Bev the other. Bev passes it to Ben who takes a small hit before giving it to Mike. Eddie watches in fascination when Stan takes the small joint from Richie and brings it to his lips. His eyes don’t leave Richie’s as he breathes in and then releases, slowly blowing the smoke into Richie’s face, smirking at him.  
  
He gives it back to Richie, who takes an even bigger hit than Stan before he looks at Eddie. There must be some kind of look on his face because Richie chuckles.  
  
“You don’t gotta do it if you don’t want to, Eds,” He says quietly, matching the new atmosphere of the room. Still, he holds the half-smoked joint out to Eddie. Eddie hesitantly reaches out to take it. He turns to see that Bill is watching him, with the other joint in his hand.  
  
Bill smiles and when he raises the joint to his mouth, Eddie copies him. He’s so nervous and excited that he barely even processes that he’s putting his mouth on the same spot where Stan and Richie have both put theirs. He breathes in deeply and immediately starts hacking.  
  
The others laugh, but not to be mean. They all had similar experiences when they first tried it too.  
  
Bill hands Mike his joint and pats Eddie on the back. Richie takes back the one in Eddie’s hand.  
  
As much as he tries, Eddie cannot stop coughing. It’s like it’s sticking to his lungs and after a few seconds, he feels like he can’t breathe.  
  
Bill’s patting turns more frantic when he realizes that Eddie’s actually having trouble getting any air and his face is turning red. The others are watching, shocked and not sure what to do. Ben jumps up to go grab Eddie some water.  
  
Eddie reaches into his pocket to grab his aspirator before plunging into his mouth and releasing the medicine. His next breath comes out shakily, but his lungs don’t feel so tight anymore. He takes the water from Ben gratefully, eager to get the burning feeling in his throat to go away.  
  
When Eddie lowers the water bottle, he notices that everyone’s staring at him, but the weed is already affecting him, and he starts to laugh. The others soon follow suit.  
  
When everyone’s laughter dies down, which takes a while, Bill leans over to whisper in his ear, “Are you okay?”  
  
Eddie shudders when he feels Bill’s breath hit his ear and he nods, not thinking he’d be able to say something not embarrassing with Bill that close. Bill leans back and watches him for a little bit before his attention is turned away to the others.  
  
Eddie doesn’t think he gets as high as the others do as he listens to them laugh and takes notice that Ben often zones out on most of the conversations. Still, he doesn’t think a smile ever leaves his face and when Bill leans back to where their shoulders touch, he doesn’t tense up like he usually would. It’s nice.  
  
Mike gets up to go grab the cookies he had baked earlier, and everyone grabs one, thanking him. Eddie doesn’t really notice the crumbs he accidentally spills into the couch, too busy watching Bill tip his head back in laughter, focusing on the small dot of chocolate at the corner of his mouth.  
  
Bill’s eyes meet his and Eddie feels his face heat up, but he doesn’t look away. Bill gives him a soft smile and he reaches over to place a hand on Eddie’s knee and squeezes. Eddie’s skin burns where Bill’s hand was.  
  
After about an hour, Eddie’s pretty sure his high has worn off. Everyone else seems to be pretty chill, most of the bantering has weaned off. Eddie can’t tell if Richie’s asleep from where he’s resting his head against Stan’s lap.  
  
They watch the movie in silence and Eddie almost feels himself doze off a little, having seen this movie several times already. He couldn’t shake how comfortable he felt around the others. Safe.  
  
When the movie ended, Bill sat up in excitement, happy that they’re watching a horror movie next. Stan grimaced and Bev rolled her eyes but started the movie. Even Richie lifted his head.  
  
Eddie tensed up a little when everyone else seemed to come to life and Bill gave him a knowing smile. “Thought y-you weren’t s-scared,” Bill teased and took another bite of a cookie.  
  
“I never said that,” Eddie defended, cringing when he realized he just admitted to being scared of a stupid movie.  
  
Bill’s smile just grew, and he leaned back on the couch, giving the movie his full attention.  
  
Eddie sunk into the couch, watching the movie wearily, trying not to jump at any scary parts. At one part, he jumps so high, Bill whips his head towards him and gives him a soft small. He replaces his hand on Eddie’s knee and leaves it there this time. Eddie knows it’s meant to comforting, a way to help without embarrassing him in front of the others.  
  
Eddie watches the movie, feeling relieved when the others seem scared like he is. He notices the way Bev hides behind her fingers and Stan has borrowed Richie’s jacket to cover his face when something is about to pop out. Richie doesn’t seem as bothered, often smiling when he feels Stan jump behind him. Ben looks a little bothered, but he tries not to jump. Mike seems the least bothered, other than Bill.  
  
However, as the movie goes on, Eddie finds himself watching Bill’s hand more than the movie. Obviously, the boy had forgotten he had placed it there because he had never taken it back. Eddie starts to daydream, thinking about taking Bill’s hand in his own to hold it. He thinks about Bill resting an arm around his shoulders as he leans into his side to hide from the jump scares. His eyes trace the lines in Bill’s hands. He wonders how’d they feel against his own.  
  
He’s violently torn from his thoughts when Bev lets out a small scream. They all look at her in shock, trying to figure out what was wrong. Apparently, Mike had accidentally kicked Bev’s beanbag when he had shifted, and the movement had startled Bev.  
  
“Sorry, girlie,” Mike chuckled. The others followed, letting out small little titters of relieved laughter.  
  
During the commotion, Bill had retracted his hand back. Eddie spends the rest of the movie wishing it was still on his knee.  
  
~~~  
  
After about a month after the school year had started, Eddie found himself running from Henry Bowers. He had taken a hall pass from his teacher, needing a break from his boring biology class.  
  
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been the only one looking to get away from class because when he had walked into the bathroom, he had come chest to chest with Henry Bowers.  
  
Henry was the asshole of the school as Eddie had come to find out his first day. Since, he hadn’t really been in Bower’s sight because he was almost always with one of the others and for some reason, Henry didn’t mess with them.  
  
Now though, Eddie was completely alone.  
  
Henry’s eyes locked on his and Eddie could feel himself getting sick from the small wicked smile that played on Henry’s lips. “Ah, the fucking queer fairy. Not so tough without the boyfriends, huh?” He sneered.  
  
“Leave me alone,” Eddie backed up, and tried to speak bravely, but his voice wavered, and he cursed himself.  
  
Henry’s eyes hardened and Eddie did the only thing he could think of.  
  
He ran.  
  
“Hey!” He heard Henry growl behind him, but he didn’t look back. Sneakers squeaked on the tile floor and Eddie hoped as he ran through the halls, that at least one person would see them, but the halls were completely empty.  
  
Eddie could feel his chest tightening from panic and the physical exertion. He ran quicker.  
  
He abruptly turned a corner and when he saw a janitor’s closet, he prayed to whatever god there might be watching him and pulling it open quickly and throwing himself inside.  
  
“Ow! What the fu- “A familiar voice called out when Eddie crashed into him.  
  
Not even comprehending why Richie would be in a janitor’s closet, Eddie pushed a hand over his mouth and Richie’s eyes seemed to communicate that he understood when he heard Henry shouting profanities as he ran by.  
  
Eddie’s hard breathing was the only sound in the dark closet and he reached up to turn on the light so he could question Richie.  
  
When the light turned on, Richie was standing right next to him, but what surprised Eddie was Stan was right behind him, staring at them with wide eyes.  
  
“Stan?” Eddie questioned and his eyes wandered over him and he pieced together why Richie and Stan were in here alone. In the dark. Stan’s hair was out of place, which never happened. The first button of his shirt had been undone and there was a small hickey peaking out from under it. Richie seemed equally as disheveled.  
  
“Um…” Eddie pressed his lips together, unsure of what to say or do.  
  
“Rich,” Stan said softly, looking at the other boy pleadingly. Richie seemed to come out of whatever stupor he had been in and jumped to business.  
  
“Eds, my man, can we talk?” Richie asked but it came out more like a demand as he swung an arm around his shoulders and led him out of the closet, leaving Stan to make himself more presentable. Richie appeared to be okay with how he looked.  
  
Eddie nodded and followed along, still unsure what to do.  
  
When they were out of earshot of the closet, Richie started to talk quietly. “Stan doesn’t want the others to know yet, okay? I’d really appreciate it if you just completely forgot this happened.”  
  
“Sure, of course, but why? Would the others…get mad?” Eddie asked fearfully, doubting if they were accepting as they claimed to be.  
  
Richie looked at him with wide eyes. “No! No, of course not. I’m pretty sure they all suspect something anyway, it’s just…Stan’s having a hard time with it is all. We’re taking things slow,” Richie explained and looked Eddie softly. “None of us would ever think…” He trailed off and frowned before continuing. “Hey, we’re all losers. And part of being in the losers club is that everyone’s allowed to be who they are. No judgment,” Richie concluded.  
  
Eddie’s face flushed because he had a feeling about why Richie was telling him this. “I promise I won’t say anything,” He changes the subject.  
  
Richie gave him a soft smile. “Thanks, Spaghetti. I knew we picked a good one.”  
  
~~~  
  
Around the beginning of October, Bill asked Eddie to come over to his house for the first time.  
  
Eddie had been packing up his stuff for the day after their last class when Bill had hesitantly waited for him at the door. It wasn’t uncommon for them to talk as they walked out of the school and sometimes, they had plans with the others that made them wait on each other.  
  
“E-Eddie?” Bill asked when Eddie had walked up to him.  
  
Eddie’s eyebrows shot up and he looked at Bill to show him he had his attention.  
  
“D-Do you w-want to come over, t-t-today?” Bill stuttered, and Eddie noticed the faintest blush on his cheekbones.  
  
“Sure!” Eddie had responded quickly. “I mean sure, yeah, that’d be cool,” Eddie said, trying to make himself appear less interested. Bill grinned and nodded.  
  
They walked together. Bill said that he had a car, but he lived so close to the school that he didn’t think it was worth driving it there and back and preferred to just walk. The weather was nice, it was just starting to get cool enough where you’d want a jacket, but not cold enough that you would freeze if you forgot one.  
  
They walked in comfortable silence, occasionally talking about their day. Eddie found himself wanting to hear Bill talk more and more. Bill usually stayed pretty quiet during their group hangouts, finding it hard to get a word in over Richie and Bev and when he did, sometimes he’d feel self-conscious about his stutter even though the others had constantly assured him that there was nothing to be embarrassed about. However, Eddie did feel at times that he was the only one who ever went out of his way to make sure Bill could state his input. He chalked that up to the fact that he was always painfully aware of what Bill was doing.  
  
They walked into Bill’s house and Eddie was impressed. It was a lot cleaner than his own. His mother still hadn’t gotten around to putting everything away so there were still boxes lying around. Eddie would help, but he couldn’t help but think in the back of his mind that it’d be no use. Everything would be back in those boxed within a few months anyway.  
  
Eddie couldn’t help but feel like there was some kind of…coldness to the house though. It was a beautiful home, but it didn’t really feel like a family lived there. Eddie looked at the pictures as they walked to Bill’s room and he couldn’t help but notice the small boy in some of the pictures. Bill looked a lot younger in the ones they were in together and none showed the boy getting older. Eddie vaguely thought that Bill had never mentioned any siblings. In fact, Bill never really said anything about his family.  
  
Bill saw him looking and he looked at the picture that held Eddie’s attention. It was a family portrait with Bill’s parents and the small boy. Bill only looked about 11 or 12 in it.  
  
Bill smiled softly and picked up the picture. His thumb ran across the frame over the boy’s face. “This is G-Georgie. He’s my little b-brother,” Bill swallowed. “He died 6 years ago.”  
  
Eddie looked at Bill sharply. “I’m so sorry, Bill,” He said sincerely, feeling bad about bringing it to attention.  
  
Bill shook his head and placed the picture back where it was. He didn’t say anything, but Eddie understood.  
  
They made their way Bill’s room and the atmosphere drastically changed. Bill had a few posters on his walls, mostly bands that Eddie didn’t know. He had a few books lying around which surprised Eddie because he never really saw Bill reading much. Upon inspection, he realized the majority of them were horror or classics.  
  
There were a few clothes on the floor and Eddie snickered when Bill quickly threw them into his hamper.  
  
Bill flopped onto the bed and patted the spot next to him. Eddie toed off his shoes and say down comfortably on Bill’s bed, trying not to think too much into it.  
  
They talk and watch videos on their phones, laughing and enjoying each other’s presence. It surprises Eddie how easy everything is with Bill. He had expected to come over and be on the brink of a break down the whole time, but Bill just makes him feel comfortable. Safe.  
  
They’re laying on their stomachs, watching Youtube videos when Bill's leg moves and becomes pressed against Eddie’s. Eddie almost chokes on his laugh and he can feel himself zoning out as the video plays.  
  
“Y-You okay?” Bill asks after noticing Eddie’s gone quiet and Eddie smiles and nods his head. Bill stares at him for a moment longer before swallowing and turning back to the video although neither of them are laughing like they had been just a few seconds ago.  
  
“Hey, do you think we should start thinking of ideas for our project?” Eddie asks later as he pulls on his shoes, getting ready to leave.  
  
Bill nods and smiles. “I’ll text you.”  
  
~~~  
  
Texting became a constant for them. Eddie finds himself checking his phone every few seconds out of pure habit, checking to see if Bill’s texted him. They talk late into the night when Eddie gets to hide his smile and burning cheeks into the cool fabric of his pillow.  
  
Bill sends him songs every so often and Eddie has collected them all into a playlist. He titles it with the shopping cart emoji, remembering the time they had snuck out to go buy ice cream at the local 24-hour market. 

There had been one cashier and he seemed to hate his job so much that he literally didn’t care that Eddie was pushing Bill all around the store in the shopping cart. It’s one of Eddie’s fondest memories and it’s something so random that no one would be able to link it to Bill.  
  
Eddie still sees the others every day even if they don’t hang out after school. The first time he had lunch with them after finding out about Richie and Stan had been pretty awkward. Stan was silent and kept glancing at him anxiously. Richie, in turn, kept looking at Stan anxiously. Everyone seemed to notice the tension between them, but no one brought it up.  
  
A few weeks after that, things are back to normal. Stan’s even interacting with him again, no longer upset. Eddie remembers when Stan had pulled him aside one time they were hanging out at Mike’s farm.  
  
“Eddie? Can we talk?’ Stan had asked him nervously, tugging at his shirt sleeve. Eddie nodded and followed him outside.  
  
“Listen. I know I’ve been pretty…rude to you lately, and I just wanted to apologize,” Stan had started. Eddie opened his mouth to speak but Stan cut him off.  
  
“No, I was being a bitch. It’s just…I guess I get jealous pretty easily, especially since no one even really knows about me and Richie,” Stan explained. “But I trust you now,” Stan said softly, looking at Eddie with those intense eyes of his.  
  
“It’s okay, Stan. I understand. But you need to know that I definitely have not been interested in Richie like that,” Eddie laughs quietly and Stan smiles, but he continues to stare at Eddie.  
  
“No, you like someone else, don’t you?” Stan asks coolly, smirking when Eddie looks at him with wide eyes.  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eddie mutters and walks back inside, hearing Stan chuckling behind him.  
  
~~~  
  
With November comes heavier jackets, football games, and the excitement in the air for the holidays coming up. Beverly seems the most excited about the holiday season. Stan rolls his eyes when she claims she’s already set up her Christmas tree.  
  
Thanksgiving break is around the corner and Eddie is ready to be so mind-numbingly bored from having nothing to do. He and Bill already have plans to get together a couple of times to continue working on their project. It’s going slow, mostly because when they get together to work, they end up spending the whole time talking about anything other than school. Eddie considers Bill to be his best friend. Probably the best he’s ever had.  
  
And that’s terrifying when he thinks about how much he likes him.  
  
It’s not enough that Bill is insanely good looking and fit, but pair that with his soft voice and his overall dorkiness that only comes out around those he’s close to? Eddie doesn’t understand how everyone isn’t in love with Bill Denbrough.  
  
“W-What do you think of this?” Bill asks, holding up their poster board where he had drawn some lettering for their title.  
  
“That’s sick. How did you do that?” Eddie marvels at the detail and in the back of his mind, he knows there’s no way they won’t win. They’ve worked too hard on this not to.  
  
Bill shrugs self-consciously and goes back to drawing some more. Eddie watches him for a few seconds before he goes back to his laptop to continue typing the report.  
  
After a while, Bill takes a break, claiming his hand is starting to hurt and sits right next to Eddie to read what he’s written. Eddie glances down to where their sides are pressed together and doesn’t say anything.  
  
Unfortunately, Eddie has taken notice that Bill is a very touchy-feely guy. Eddie has caught himself scowling when he’s noticed Bill touching the others. He knows it’s not fair to them or Bill, but he just can’t help himself. Something about Bill’s touch sends sparks up his spine.  
  
Bill lays his head on Eddie’s shoulder, relaxing and pulling out his phone. Eddie stares at his screen, unable to focus when Bill’s leaning on him like this. Bill takes notice of his pause in typing and lifts his head.  
  
“I’m hungry. Want t-to stay for d-dinner?” Bill asks.  
  
Eddie nods, always wanting to spend as much time with Bill as he can. He gets out his phone to shoot his mother a text and pockets it before he can read her response.  
  
These past couple of months have been rough between them. Eddie’s never been away from the house as much as he has lately and it’s driving his mother crazy.  
  
She constantly tries to get him to stay home, claiming that he’ll get sick, that he’ll get hurt, that his friends don’t want what’s best for him like she does. Eddie has politely disagreed each time. He doesn’t want to fight with his mother. She’s been by his side his whole life, but now he knows he’s always been missing something. And now that he’s found it, he’s not giving it up.  
  
A couple of weeks ago, Eddie had gone into the house and finished unpacking all the boxes himself. His mother had watched him with a small look of discontent on her face, but she hadn’t said anything.  
  
Eddie follows Bill down to the kitchen and sits on the counter when Bill grabs a frozen pizza from the freezer. Eddie has discovered that dinner for Bill usually looks like this. This or takeout. In all the times Eddie’s been here, he’s only seen Bill’s parents twice and neither times did they ever really acknowledge either of their presences. Bill seemed used to the behavior and it made Eddie’s heart ache.  
  
Bill put the pizza in the oven and turned to grin at Eddie. Eddie frowned but his eyes widened he saw that Bill had a can of sprayable whipped cream in his hand.  
  
“Bill, don’t,” Eddie warns when the nozzle gets turned in his direction.  
  
“What? M-Most kids like dessert b-before dinner,” Bill smirks and sprays the can, hitting Eddie in the cheek when he turns his head. Eddie shrieked and jumped off of the counter, wiping his face and cursing when he heard Bill laugh. Eddie turned to look at him and Bill’s laughter cut off before he took off running.  
  
Eddie chased him upstairs and forced his way into Bill’s room when Bill tried to shut the door on him. He tackled Bill and managed to grab the can before spraying it in Bill’s face, laughing himself.  
  
Bill screamed and laughed, before yelling, “I give up! I’m s-sorry!” And Eddie lowered the can, laughing at how Bill’s face was covered with whipped cream. He reached down to help get it away from Bill’s eyes when he realized he was sitting Bill’s lap.  
  
He froze as Bill reached over to grab a towel to wipe off his face and when Bill cleared off all the cream, he took notice of their position. He looked intensely into Eddie’s eyes and Eddie looked back. Eddie swallowed and he could feel himself leaning down, glancing at Bill’s lips when the timer rang from downstairs making him jump. He quickly got off of Bill and reached down a hand to help him up, not looking into his eyes.  
  
They don’t mention the accident again.  
  
~~~  
  
It really shows the Beverly is planning to go all out this holiday season. During the first week of November, she had passed out sheets of paper containing food items that they’ll volunteer to make (or in Eddie’s case, buy), for their Friendsgiving. Eddie and his mother don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving other than ordered takeaway and a small prayer that neither of them really mean.  
  
Eddie’s really excited.  
  
He’s always wanted to get into the holiday spirit and Bev is there the whole way to match his enthusiasm.  
  
They meet at Stan’s because his house is the biggest, and his parents are gone to a party of their own. They choose to meet the day before actual Thanksgiving so that they can all spend time with their actual families.  
  
Eddie showed up to Stan’s with his generic store-bought pumpkin pie and knocked on the door. Stan answered it and grinned when he saw Eddie. Eddie noticed that he had a glass of wine in his hand and raised his eyebrows at him. Stan didn’t seem to notice, or didn’t seem to care, and pulled him in.  
  
Eddie met the others in the dining room where Mike (who they all knew had cooked the majority of the food) was setting down the last dish. Mike smiled at him brightly and took the pie from him to put out with the others.  
  
They dug in, sitting around the table, laughing and talking. Richie got a little boisterous, probably because he had had even more glasses of wine than Stan and it was all great fun. Eddie sat back at one point to just look around him at his friends. He realized with a lump in his throat that this was the first time he had ever felt like he had a family.  
  
Bill, who sat next to him, caught his eye and smiled at him so big that there were crinkles next to his eyes. Eddie wanted to take a snapshot of that smile to remember forever.  
  
They all ate until they felt like they were going to burst, but they cleared away the leftovers and got out a couple of board games. Nobody was really paying attention to what was going on on the board though. At one point, Stan sat in Richie’s lap and everyone looked surprised, but no one said a word until Richie leaned up to whisper in his ear and Stan’s face flushed.  
  
“So, we have an announcement to make,” Richie said, who sounded surprisingly sober all of a sudden when he had received a head nod from Stan. He wrapped his arms around Stan’s waist, and everyone looked to give him their attention. Eddie shot Stan a proud smile and Stan’s eyes dropped to the floor, but he had a small smile playing at his lips too.  
  
“Stan the man here- ow, I’m getting to it,” Richie rubbed his thigh from where Stan had pinched it. “We’re dating. And we’d appreciate your support,” Richie finished seriously.  
  
“You guys are really cute,” Ben smiled, and everyone took that as the signal to start gushing about how cute they were, how happy they looked, how proud they were. Eddie doesn’t think he’s ever seen Stan that happy.  
  
Eddie was grinning, happy for the two and his eyes met Bill’s. There was something unspoken between them, but Eddie wouldn’t be able to tell you what it was.  
  
~~~  
  
Eddie hid around the corner, not wanting to run into any of the others. His lip trembled and pressed them together to stop it.  
Bowers had finally gotten to him.  
  
He doesn’t even really know how it had happened. It was so fast. He had just been dropped off and was walking into the school when Henry had come behind him and yanked him so hard by the shirt collar, there was a red line around his neck.  
  
Eddie had gotten back up to his feet to run or to call for help when Henry had shoved him against the brick wall so hard, Eddie’s vision had gone white for a second. He had blocked out what happened next, and when Bowers was finally walking away, Eddie was left in a crumpled heap on the ground.  
  
It had taken him a while to get up and no one had seen him to ask where he was or to help him. His body ached and he knew there must be some obvious bruising around his cheek because he could feel how swollen it was. The blood on his shirt showed that lip had busted pretty badly as well.  
  
Eddie allowed himself to cry, Henry’s words echoing in his mind. He wanted to go home, but he couldn’t go home like this. His mother would have an aneurysm and he would spend the rest of the week in the hospital getting x-rayed.  
  
Slowly, he had stood up, dusted himself off as best he could, and when everyone was in class, he had ducked inside to make it to the bathroom.  
  
He had started to cry again when he saw himself in the mirror. There was dirt and drying blood everywhere. He was relieved when he remembered he had a sweater in his locker. However, his cheek was a dark shade of purple and his lip was split right down the middle. There was nothing he could do to hide it.  
  
He didn’t want the others seeing what had happened. He knew they would be upset and angry, but he didn’t want that. He didn’t want to seem weak. His hand came up to gently touch his cheek and he hissed.  
  
The morning was already halfway over, meaning if he skipped lunch, the only class he had with the others would be his last one with Bill. His blood ran cold when he thought about Bill seeing him like this.  
  
He continued to clean himself up and practically ran to his locker to grab his sweater. He considered ditching the rest of the day, but then one of his teachers from the afternoon saw him. If he left now, his mother would be notified.  
  
So, when the bell rang and all the students came out into the hall, Eddie hid behind the corner he knew the others would be and stayed there until the tardy bell rang before he made his way to class.  
  
When the lunch bell rang, Eddie made his way to the bathroom to hide out in.  
  
About five minutes later, his phone started going off. It was Bill.  
  
_Hey, where are you?  
_  
_ Stan said you weren’t here first hour  
_  
_ Are you sick?  
_  
Eddie smiled at his concern and swallowed before typing his reply.  
  
_Not feeling well, no.  
_  
A reply came back in seconds.  
  
_Want me to come by after school?  
_  
_No, that’s okay, Bill. I’ll be fine._  
  
Bill only responded with a sad face and Eddie exited out of the conversation. His face and body were starting to hurt even more than they had, and he was really just ready to go home and avoid his mom so he could sleep.  
  
When the bell rang for lunch to end, Eddie slowly made his way out of the cubicle. Right as Richie walked in.  
  
Richie looked surprised to see him, but his eyes really widened when he saw Eddie’s appearance.

  
“Holy shit, what happened to you?” Richie asked, coming closer to view the damage.  
  
“Leave me alone, Richie,” Eddie snapped and pushed his hands away.  
  
“I’m being serious, Eddie, what the fuck happened?”  
  
“Fucking Bowers is what happened,” Eddie grumbled, and he hated that tears were starting to well up in his eyes.  
  
Richie stared at him for a couple of seconds before he brought Eddie into a gentle hug. “Why didn’t you say anything, Eds?” He asked softly.  
  
Eddie started to cry into his chest. “I didn’t want you guys to see,” He sniffled.  
  
“Spaghetti, you’re a loser now. We’ve all seen each other at our worst. You’re no different,” Richie looked down at him and sighed. “I’m gonna tell Bill.”  
  
“What? No, the fuck you’re not,” Eddie said, pushing him back.  
  
But Richie was already pulling out his phone and typing away before Eddie could wrestle it away from him. Just a couple minutes late, Bill busted into the bathroom. He took one look at Eddie’s face and his eyes hardened.  
  
“I’m going to kill him,” He said lowly, but he walked slowly over to Eddie and gently took his face in both hands, tilting his head back so he could get a closer look. In any other circumstance, Eddie would feel excited and happy, but before he even processed it, he had wrapped his arms around Bill to hide his tears.  
  
Bill wrapped his arms around Eddie’s shoulders and even though Richie had been comforting, Bill’s arms around him just made him feel safer.  
  
Bill didn’t mention the fact that Eddie had lied to him or question what had happened. He held Eddie in his arms, only whispering soft reassurances until Eddie stopped crying. Richie stayed in the bathroom, but he was silent.  
  
Bill pulled back and pressed a kiss to Eddie’s forehead, making them both freeze. Richie’s eyebrows shot up.  
  
“Uh, s-sorry,” Bill stuttered, looking sheepish. Eddie watched him for a couple of seconds before hugging him again wordlessly.  
  
Bill and Richie stayed with him in the bathroom until he felt ready to go to class. Later, when Bill would come over, his knuckles would be wrapped but Eddie wouldn’t say anything about it. The next day, when he saw Henry with a black eye, he smiled.  
  
~~~  
  
“L-let's go get hot chocolate,” Bill says one day when they’re walking home from school. It snowed the night before and they were both covered in thick winter clothes to protect themselves from the cold. Eddie hummed and nodded, desperate to warm up.  
  
They walked to a local café and ordered two mugs of hot chocolate. They stayed inside to warm up and drink their drinks before heading back out into the cold. It was a lot more appealing to be out in the cold after that and Bill seemed happier after he had had his drink.  
  
About a block away from Bill’s, Eddie felt something hit his back. He turned around and saw Bill looking away, feigning innocence, but the smirk on his lips gave him away.  
  
Eddie gaped at him for a second before he leaned down to make his own snowball, hurtling it at Bill and hitting him in the chest. Bill looked at him in shock before reaching down again. Eddie squealed when the next snowball got him right on the chin and ducked behind a nearby tree to start forming some ammo. Bill launched himself behind a bush to do the same.  
  
They threw snowballs at each other for a while, laughing and yelling when they’d get hit. After a few minutes of their war, Bill ran out from his cover to chase after Eddie. Eddie laughed and ran away, but his foot snagged on something underneath the snow and he went headfirst into the snow. He flipped onto his back just in time for Bill, who had been so close to Eddie, stumbled as he tried to stop, and fell right on top of Eddie.  
  
Eddie felt the air get pushed out of him but couldn’t stop himself from laughing. Bill leaned up, worried that he had hurt Eddie, but laughed when he saw Eddie laughing. Their eyes met and almost at the same time, their laughter died off. They stared into each other’s eyes, and Bill reached up to brush some of Eddie’s hair off of his forehead. And then he kissed him.  
  
Eddie felt his heart lurch when Bill’s lips first touch his, almost in denial that this was really happening. He closes his eyes and kisses back, holding on to Bill for dear life.  
  
Bill pulled back to look down at Eddie, wanting to make sure this was okay before he kissed him again, this time more desperately. Eddie eagerly responded, relieved to know the Bill really wanted to do this and it wasn’t just a heat of the moment thing.  
  
  
After making out in the snow for a few minutes, Bill pulls back again. “Y-You don’t know h-how long I’ve wanted to d-do that,” He breathes and even though Eddie was the one most in the snow, his body felt warm at his words.  
  
“I do,” Eddie argued, and Bill’s eyes lit up before he pressed one more kiss to Eddie’s lips before standing up and pulling Eddie to his feet.  
  
They walked the rest of the way to Bill’s, giggling and sneaking glances at each other that suddenly had new meaning.  
  
When they arrived, they went straight to Bill’s room. They stripped off their heavy coats and Bill gently back Eddie up against the wall, took his face in his hands, and kissed him again.  
  
Eddie could feel his heart beating faster and faster as he kissed back, his hands grabbing on to Bill’s shirt, gripping it and bunching it up in his fists.  
  
“G-Go on a date with me,” Bill breathes, their lips brushing against each other as he spoke, and Eddie can do nothing but nod before he leans up to press their lips together again.  
  
~~~  
  
Eddie watches in amusement as Bill trips on the way inside the restaurant.  
  
The waiter escorting them reaches out to steady Bill and Bill looks at Eddie with a sheepish smile and reddening cheeks, making Eddie laugh.  
  
They get led to their table and Bill pulls out Eddie’s chair for him, winking as he does so.  
  
Eddie grins and takes his seat, watching fondly as Bill walks around to take his own.  
  
They look at their menus and debate on what sounds good before placing their order. Bill reaches across the table for Eddie’s hand and Eddie looks around cautiously before taking it.  
  
“This place is beautiful,” Eddie compliments.  
  
“S-Stan picked it,” Bill stuttered and chuckled. Eddie laughed too.  
  
Going on a date with Bill still didn’t seem real to him. He kept thinking that maybe he imagined this all or that he wasn’t really comprehending the situation, but then Bill would press a chaste kiss to his cheek or run his thumb along his knuckles, and Eddie knew they were real.  
  
They’d told the others that they were going on a date, mostly to try things, but they both knew they wanted more. They just didn’t know if they were moving too fast.  
  
The others had been just as supportive as Eddie had thought they would be. Bev had wolf-whistled and he’s pretty sure he heard Richie mutter, “About goddamn time,” to Stan who had smacked him and told him to shut up.  
  
Eddie looked at Bill across the table as he tried to scoop up some fondue with some bread and snorted when it fell into his lap.  
  
Eddie didn’t care if they were moving too fast, he knew Bill was the one for him.  
  
~~~  
  
About a week after he and Bill claim to be officially dating, Sonia drops a bomb on Eddie.  
  
“Eddie bear, come here please,” She calls as he walks through the front door to go to his room. Eddie paused and makes his way to the living room where she’s sat in her old recliner.  
  
“What’s wrong, Ma?” He asks, panicking slightly that she knows about him and Bill. But she doesn’t look mad or upset so he pushes that thought aside.  
  
“Eddie, I don’t think this town is the right one. I’ve been looking at some house listings and there’s this really nice place in Florida that I just know you’ll love,” She starts, smiling to herself.  
  
“No,” Eddie says, feeling his heart drop into his stomach. Sonia looks at him in shock.  
  
“What’s wrong, Eddie?” She asks concerned.  
  
“I don’t want to move again. I like it here,” He says pleadingly, shaking his head, unable to comprehend what he’s hearing.  
  
“Eddie, it’s so cold here. My bones hurt. You don’t want your poor mother to be in pain, do you?” She asks, looking at him with hurt in her eyes.  
  
Eddie stood his ground. “No. I have friends here, Ma. My whole life is here now. I’m not moving.” He states firmly. Sonia’s face darkens.  
  
“Eddie, you don’t have a choice. I’m your mother and I’ll decide where we live. Now, go start to pack your things, I want to be out of here by New Year’s.”  
  
Eddie shook his head again. “No. I’m not going.”  
  
Sonia continued to look at him in shock.  
  
“Eddie- “  
  
“I’m 17, Ma. I’ll be 18 in a few months. You can’t make me go with you. I don’t care if I have to move into Ben’s clubhouse, I’m staying here,” He said and turned to walk back out the door, slamming it behind him, hearing his mother scream out his name behind him.  
  
Eddie runs. He runs all the way to Bill’s house, up to his porch steps, and knocks furiously on the door. Bill opens it and frowns, confused about why Eddie showed up without warning. He sees the tears that had started to fall on his run over here and ushers him inside. Ben and Mike are there too, sitting on the bedroom floor when they walk in. They offer to leave when they see how upset Eddie is, but Eddie just shakes his head and cries harder.  
  
He explains what his mother said, and they immediately start coming up with conclusions on what to do.  
  
“You can live with me, my mom won’t care,” Ben assures. Mike promises him there more than enough room on the farm. Bill stays silent, knowing that there’s no way his parents would let Eddie move in, but he holds him close and presses kisses to his cheeks and temple.  
  
But Eddie knows in his heart that it doesn’t matter who’s roof he’s sleeping under; his home is with his friends.  
  
~~~  
  
“Thank you for listening,” Eddie concludes their demo to the class. Bill stands next to him holding their poster board up for everyone to see their design. Eddie can’t help but feel proud of them when everyone in the room looks impressed and they even get a few claps.  
  
Bill grins at him as they make their way to their desks. They got this in the bag.  
  
And they did.  
  
They find out the next day that the other class did like their invention the best. It apparently was a landslide.  
  
Bill and Eddie walk out hand in hand, wearing bright smiles on their faces. It’s the last day of the fall semester and they have the next two weeks to relax and spend time in each other’s company.  
  
Fortunately, Eddie doesn’t have to move out after all. After Eddie threatened Sonia with moving out on his own to go live with his friends, she had quickly rescinded her demand to move, suggesting that this place wasn’t so bad after all.  
  
For the last day before break, all the losers are meeting at Bev’s again for a celebration.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! My tumblr is the-ben-handsome<3  
I take requests for all losers club ships!


End file.
